News from the Bible School

Dear friends, brothers and sisters in Christ,

We are writing with the latest news on the happenings at HUB Bible school.

The 2nd semester started on Monday, January 14, and that day was special to all of us. The students came back after five weeks spent at home and their first words were that they couldn’t wait to come back. They missed the challenges and the blessings that God was giving them through the study of His word, and the life of fellowship in the school.

There have already been three weeks since the beginning of the semester, and many wonderful things have happened. The 1st week, the students studied the Gospel of Mark and Deuteronomy, with our longtime teacher Roger Pearce. Roger’s way of teaching is very practical. His goal is to set the foundations to the students for the further studying of the books he teaches. He wants the students to remember one event from each of the chapters of Mark, as well as the most important chapters of Deuteronomy. The students embraced this way of teaching, so they gladly questioned and tested one another on what they remembered during the breaks between classes.

The week after, Vladimir Majersky taught 2. Samuel. He also has been teaching at our school for a long time faithfully and reliably, to our pleasure and the pleasure of the students.

The third week began and finished with the lessons on the Epistle of Romans, taught by Ronnie Stevens, pastor of the International church in Budapest. His lessons are always eagerly expected. They demand deep thinking and involvement into classes. Through them the students are revealed great truths, and many testify that God is speaking to them especially through this wonderful epistle.

Pastor Ronnie Stevens told us his impressions about the school and this generation: “This is probably the 12^th time that I’ve taught at HUB and the 2^nd time that I’ve taught this particular group of students. I would say that I’m very positively impressed with their love for the Lord and their seriousness about Bible study. They ask intelligent, theologically grounded, practically helpful questions. They paid great attention, they consistently took notes and it’s a privilege to be their teacher and get to know them personally. It makes me hopeful about the future of Christianity in this part of the world.” 

Practical days and visits to churches

Practical days and Sundays are the students’ favorite days, when they can practically serve other people. During these three weeks, we’ve been to many visits, at different places, split into different groups. So far we have visited four families with disabled children,  that took part for two years at the Family Retreat, the organization of which we have helped. Since the first Retreat, for three years we have been visiting them at least once or twice per semester, and their homes are always wide open for the Bible school and the students. Our visits always make them happy, because they receive respect and love from us. Their children are also happy when we visit them. Here’s a statement of a mother whose child has autism: “As parents, we are thrilled by the fact that the Bible school is coming to visit us with the students. Our daughter is very lonely, but when they come, she is excited and happy. We live at such time that people are looking only to themselves, but you show us this sacrificial love. Thank you so much for doing it.”

Praise God that He opens the doors of the places where we can show his love, so that people can see it and trust in Him.

Another example of the visit we were at, is the students’ visit to Ljuba and Nada, two sisters who have muscular dystrophy, who live in a Nursing home for adult disabled people in Belgrade. They are two of our dear sisters in Christ, who we have been visiting for 5-6 years already, ever since Elenka got in touch with them. They are a huge blessing and an encouragement for the students. No student could ever leave their place, without feeling touched.

 

The impressions of Ljuba and Nada: “Years aback we have the joy of having the HUB students come to our Home occasionally and share their life stories with us then. Each story is magnificent because it speaks about an awesome and gracious God who has gotten deep into their lives and made them new creation, to His glory. They are young people who want to get to know God and His Word better, and devote their lives and ministries to Him. Each generation is special and they have always been an encouragement to us with their love, their joy, their songs, their jokes… We are thankful to God that we were able to get to know some of the students of this generation too who were also a huge blessing to us these days. “

Visists to churches

This semester we came to an idea to visit churches that we never have visited, especially those that are small that have no contact with other believers. Last week, we were at Bela Crkva, a small place at the South of Banat, close to Romanian border. There are two evangelical churches in the place, the Church of God and the Baptist church. We were at the Baptist church. It is a small church, with only about 15 members. We served them by singing songs, sharing the testimonies and preaching from the Word of God. People were really excited, encouraged and blessed by our visit. They welcomed us warmly and said that they’d love for us to visit them again.

All in all, the happenings at HUB have started to the full! This was just our humble attempt to portray how much encouraged and blessed we are through all this and how privileged we are to serve our Lord and see Him used in the lives of many. We will soon let you know about how the story goes on. Until then, we wish you to enjoy and grow in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Please keep praying for our ministry at HUB and the students.

“The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” Matthew 9:37-38

Riste and the HUB team